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“Who’s gone?” he asks, taking another sip of his drink.
“Evangeline, the maid. She ran away.”
“Dammit,” Ryder curses, setting his glass down. “She took off? Did she steal our shit too?”
“I have no idea. But we should track her down just in case.”
“I’ll help you find her,” Ryder says, crossing the room to follow me out. “She can’t have gone that far yet, right?”
The two of us make our way down to the front lawn just as a rumble of thunder echoes through the manor.
“Her car is still here,” I point out, gesturing to the beat-up pile of junk sitting in the corner. “She had to have gone on foot, then.”
“Where would she have tried to go?” Ryder asks.
“Probably cut through the back, heading into the forest,” I answer, scanning the estate. “There’s a route in there that takes you to the main road.”
We walk into the forest just as the rain starts, the sky opening up around us. My emotions are all over the place from one minute to the next, cycling between anger, frustration, and strange dread.
“We should go back!” Ryder shouts over the sound of the wind whipping through the trees. “It’s a mess out here. Who cares if some dumb maid was dumb enough to run out into this storm?”
“She’s still our responsibility,” I remind him. “Don’t forget that she’s also pregnant. If she gets hurt, she could sue us for getting hurt on our property.” But even as I say the words, some part of me knows deep down that I’m not looking for Evangeline to prevent a lawsuit.
No, my anger has turned to guilt and fear now. We pushed that girl around until she felt she had no other choice but to escape, and now we probably put her and her unborn child in danger.
The rain has us soaking wet at this point, and I’m starting to shiver, but I can’t turn back now. I feel a sense of duty in finding her.
The two of us walk through some muddy underbrush, and my heart freezes in my chest when I realize I see Evangeline in front of us.
She’s lying on the ground, curled up and not moving. I rush forward, my steps squelching in the mud as I make my way to her, Ryder on my tail.
“Eva,” I call out, reaching a hand out to shake her. “What are you doing? Get up!”
She doesn’t move, doesn’t respond. Panic fills me, and I feel sick to my stomach. “Evangeline, get up right this instant!” I order her.
Ryder gapes at her, shock on his face as the reality of the situation starts to hit us. “We have to help her!” I yell over the rain. “We need to get her back inside, like, now!”
Ryder nods, scooping her up easily, and the two of us make our way back to the manor through the raging storm.
By the time we get back, the three of us are drenched from head to toe. “Fitz!” I holler, my voice echoing through the house.
A couple of the new household staff immediately come find us dripping wet and holding onto Evangeline in the foyer. They cover their mouths with their hands, shock rippling through them as they take in the sight of us.
Fitz appears a few seconds later, racing down the stairs to meet us. “She was trying to run away. We found her like this, passed out on the forest floor. Get her into my room, and have one of the other maids get her in a hot bath. I’ll be up shortly to check on her.”
Fitz starts barking out orders, and Ryder begins to carry Eva up the stairs. I follow behind them, my heart in my throat.
Will Evangeline be alright? Will she and the baby make it? I can’t help the crushing guilt that threatens to consume me alive as I realize that this entire situation was my fault. I could have prevented it from happening, and now I have to stand here, watching helplessly as the poor girl looks close to death.
What are we going to do now?
12
RYDER
As soon as a couple of the maids have helped get Evangeline into a hot bath, I’m pushed out of the room for “privacy”.
Theo and I stand together in the hall, exchanging worried glances and occasionally pacing the floor while we wait for news.
